


Like Art

by KaytiKazoo



Series: Synonymous With Home [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, College Student Vex'ahlia, Dog Trinket, F/F, Kissing in the Rain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 12:00:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13053570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaytiKazoo/pseuds/KaytiKazoo
Summary: Vex'ahlia is a double-major college student with a dog, and Keyleth is a small business owner who fights for the environment, and sometimes they kiss.





	Like Art

Double major, double work, double life. She was tired down to her very core, going from one class to another, then going to meetings, and studying after planning for hours the next protest, and then going back to class. She was thankful she didn't have to add work into that equation, thanks to her brother. He was always there for her, supporting her, even when she didn't deserve it, even when she didn't give him the appreciation he deserved. 

She didn't even stay in their small two-bedroom apartment in the shit side of town most nights, the apartment that he busted his ass to afford. He was doing so much, and she did nothing to show him her thanks. Instead, she was driving just outside of Emon on the opposite end of town to a small plot of land filled with fields and greenhouses, and in the back corner, away from the road, there was a small cabin perfect for a young couple who wanted to be alone.

Vex'ahlia stepped out of the car into the pouring rain, Trinket pawing at his door to be let out. She had no hurry in her step, the rain rolling welcome down her cheeks, although she pat her legs and called Trinket out of her door so he could bound towards the cabin door. He hated the car, but tolerated it when Keyleth or Vax were on the other end of the ride. She gathered her bags out of the back, and headed for the door. She tipped her head back, letting the rain wash over her. 

"Come inside before you catch a cold," Keyleth called from the door of their home, Trinket bolting into the cabin between her legs, making her stumble with a small laugh.

 _Their home;_  it sounded fake even now. After their father had pulled them from their mother and then treated them like trash, home wasn't something they were intimately familiar with. It still startled and amazed her that she found a place to belong with this shy, socially awkward girl with a green thumb. 

"I won't take care of you if you get sick, Vex'ahlia," Keyleth said, leaning into the doorframe. 

"Come enjoy it, Kiki!" 

"I will not."

Vex walked towards the cabin, grinning. She put out her hands.

"Come on, Keyleth. The rain makes everything new! It waters crops, it fills the rivers, and it makes everything replenished! How can you hate the rain?"

"I don't hate it, I just don't want to dance in it."

"You, Miss Take Advantage Of Every Day? You don't want to dance in a storm while you can?" 

Vex wrapped her hands around Keyleth's and tugged gently. If Keyleth truly didn't want to, Vex's grip was loose enough that her hands could slip right out. But instead, Keyleth smiled and followed Vex out from under the small covered porch and into their yard. The rain found their forms once again and Vex watched as Keyleth's loose red hair began to lose its loose curls. She tipped her head back, and looked up towards the sky.

The clouds had covered the night sky, the stars and moon blanketed in the thick dark. Vex and Vax used to lay on the grass in the courtyard in their father's house when he thought they were asleep, staring up at the endless night sky. They'd pick out constellations and tell the stories of the gods that put them there. 

Tonight, it was covered, but Vex didn't need the stars to tell her the truth. She knew what the gods had done; they had created Keyleth Ashari, Asher to the public, and did a damn good job of it. Her smile was the sun, and her freckles the stars. Vex could trace the constellations between them and make up the stories they told. They told of a girl desperate to escape her roots, who was trying to escape the weight of her father's expectations. They told the story of Keyleth Ashari who had left the compound that her father had built on the cliffs, and changed her name to Asher after her father came under public scrutiny for some sketchy dealings. None of it were true, Keyleth insisted, but it still made her a target, so she changed who she was, and stood on her own in Emon. Her fingernails always had a small trace of soil, even when she scrubbed them, and she smelled of flowers naturally. 

"You're staring," Keyleth said, pulling Vex close.

"You're beautiful."

Keyleth blushed, the rain beginning to bead at the ends of her eyelashes and drip from her nose. Vex leaned in and kissed the drop from the tip of Keyleth's nose, running her hands through her girlfriend's hair. 

"Do you want to dance, Kiki?" 

They swayed together, without a reason, without a note of music. Vex's mind drifted to Scanlan for a moment, wondering if he would create something sweet for them if she asked. He might, but it would have a price. They deserved a song of their own, one that no one had ever heard or danced to before. 

Keyleth hadn't had much of a childhood, but neither had Vex. 

For that, she tried to make the smallest things fun. She tried to bring a childlike wonder to their lives. Even if it was dancing in the rain after class, she tried. 

She kissed Keyleth, pressing her hands into either side of her face and just holding her close. Every kiss was like their first, messy and imprecise. Keyleth tasted like sweets and sunshine, and kissed like fire, like the very universe had seen her strength and decided it lay within her inherent goodness. 

"We should go inside," Keyleth muttered into the kiss. 

"Why? Afraid someone will see us?"

"Well, no, because they can't see the house from the road, but this is a little public."

"It's your private land, Key."

"I'm not really-"

"Into voyeurism?" Vex asked teasingly. She kissed along Keyleth's jaw to her ears. 

"I'm open to trying, but it's also freezing out here."

"Just a few more minutes," Vex said softly. "I like seeing you out here in nature. You are a force to be reckoned with, Key, and so is this storm."

As if waiting for a cue, a crash of thunder sounded overhead and the night sky was light ablaze for a second with white lightning. It lit up Keyleth's face, and just like every second proceeeding and every second following, Keyleth looked like art. She was a living masterpiece, a breathtaking living piece of art, and Vex got to see every little brush stroke that put her together. She thanked Pelor that he had granted her this little blessing. 

"Okay, just a few more minutes. Anything for you," Keyleth answered, and kissed Vex underneath the clouded sky. Raindrops kissed their skin softly as lightning lit up the world around them in millisecond flashes.

**Author's Note:**

> This is in the same universe of my Vaxlan fic, For Keepsies, if you're interested in that at all.


End file.
